It Was Just ONE History Report
by Mitsuki Horenake
Summary: It's horrible when you have to do your history report in three days.  It sucks even more when all your friends are actual nations.  And her topic of choice?  Holy Roman Empire.


**All right, more OC-centric! This time, I'm going with Liara. I think I'm long overdue for something about this. Plus, I was just on Wikipedia and I always wondered this whenever I go on, so…ahahaha…**

**/=+=/**

_I just __**LOVE**__ my history reports…_

Just so you know, that was sarcasm.

Liara rolled her eyes as she slowly closed the door behind her. Ever since she learned that her father was England, she had somehow used what she had inherited from him to excel in her history class. But now she's stuck having to do research on not a nation, but a time period. The last thing she needed to do was to ask people to dig into the past.

_Which, of course, is a taboo topic…_ She sighed. _I swear, it's impossible to do my history homework every time they're in the house._

**[And that's just out of courtesy.]**

_Shut up._

**[Hey, I'm just saying the truth.]**

_Which is why you're the little voice in my head. Shut up, you're done here for now._

The voice decided to leave itself alone as she threw her bags onto the couch. Suddenly, she could faintly smell the distinct smell of pasta wafting from her kitchen. She wrinkled her nose, knowing only one person could bring a smell like that in her house. She walked to the kitchen.

"Seriously, Veneziano. If you're just going to jump into my house during random intervals of the day, I might as well give you my keys!"

"Eh? Ve~~~~good afternoon, Liara!" He chirped, turning the burner off. "I heard you were having a hard day in school, so I thought I would make you a good meal when you came home!"

"Geez, Veneziano…you're a guest, not my maid!" She laughed, removing her coat. "Take your time, cause I got a report to type up."

"A…report?"

Liara stared at Feliciano, who was staring at her with a strange look on his face. That's when she realized that Feliciano never had to go to school and hence he never had to worry about writing a damn school report. She sighed as she hung her jacket on the nearby coat rack.

"It's basically a collection of information taken from the internet and our personal views on an incident written down on computer paper." She answered.

"Ve~~~it sounds hard." He blinked. "Is there any way I can help?"

"It's…it's a history paper, Veneziano. I think it might touch on something-"

"Nonsense! I'm here to help Liara in every way I can!"

**[But he doesn't know anything about his past, Liara. There's no way he can help you.]**

_Oh hush. He'll probably be helpful enough to fetch note cards or something._

She was staring at him, the strange look now covered with the usual Italy look that she was used to seeing. From the back of her mind, she recalled all the information that she could recall from the topic and confirmed that Italy didn't have that big of a history with it. She could risk it.

"Well…I'll give you the topic that I have to write about and then you can rethink your offer."

"I'll help you, Liara! Don't worry about it!" He chirped. "What's the topic?"

"Um…the Holy Roman Empire."

He froze in place, nearly shaking. That's when she realized that, despite the fact that she had tried to avoid the whole 'touching-onto-hard-topics-with-nations' incident, she just ran headfirst into what could be the darkest and deepest secret of this poor Italian nation. The watery eyes _(but…they're closed!)_ was all the indication she needed.

**[Told you that you should've done the paper in the library.]**

_They're closed today! The librarian had a baby, remember?_

**[They hired a replacement, idiot.]**

Great, now the voice in her head is arguing with her. Can she be more pathetic?

"Uh…I hit a bad topic, didn't I?" She rubbed the back of her head. "Listen Veneziano, you can rethink your offer if you want-"

"No…it's fine." He sat down at the table. "It was going to happen one of these days…I guess it's better that it's you."

He sighed as he looked down on the tabletop that he had cleaned _(at least, it was cleaner than when she was last home)_. She gulped twice before she slowly sat down next to him, trying her best not to say anything. What could she say at something like this?

"Um…you knew Holy Roman Empire, didn't you?"

"…We were close…very close, Heilrich and I…" He answered. "I loved him. And he loved me."

_So Holy Roman Empire was in love with Italy…and apparently his human name is Heilrich…_

**[Wait, did he just say that Holy Roman Empire's a guy?]**

Holy snickerdoodles.

"Oh…that…OK…" Liara sighed. "How did he…?"

"He's…he's still alive." He said. "He told me…he told me that he's going to come back to me! He's never lied to me before."

She rubbed the back of her head with a blank look on her face, wondering just what the heck she could do in this situation. Maybe she could get one of those fairy people to help her _(heck, Arthur never seems to be away from her, huh?)_ turn back time or something…avoid even mentioning the topic or something.

"_**He needs answers, Liara."**_

She blinked, hearing the voice whisper in her ear. It was her guardian angel. She only started hearing him after she first met England. Maybe that was something else she inherited? Her father did have a tendency to strip into a toga…

"_Yeah? Well, I just made him cry."_ She sighed.

"_**This topic is hard on him, Liara. But beyond all that pain and suffering, all he wants is answers. And you're the only one who can answer him."**_

"_How in the world do I do that?"_

"_**How do you answer all your questions?"**_

Love the vagueness, dude. Love the vagueness.

"…hey, Veneziano. If you're here, that means that there's a meeting today, right?"

"Eh? Uwaaa! There was one today!" He jumped straight up, tears still flying from his eyes. "I-I have to get there!"

"Hold up. I'm driving you there." She stood up. "And I'm making sure that you're all right."

"B-but I'm all right!"

"You're crying, Veneziano. You're not all right."

"…but…" He really wanted her off her back. "Y-you have a report…right?"

"I'll bring my laptop and charger. I'll type it up in the lobby, no big deal. There's Internet access in there, last time I checked."

She stood there, wondering what other excuse Italy would give her. But after realizing that she was the only one who knew where the conference hall was and that it was too late to call anyone to bring him there, he silently accepted her offer. Meanwhile, Liara was quick to grab her stuff and get out. The mood was killing her.

**/=+=/**

_I hope I didn't depress Veneziano enough for someone to confront me…_

**[That's what you get for doing history homework around these people. Human documentation of history is basically nothing more than easy access to their dirty little secrets!]**

_Well, sorry if I get history homework from oblivious human beings! I can't tell him that I happen to live with countries!_

She sighed as she banged her head to stop the conversation before finally focusing on the paper in front of her. It was just another long list of things that she was going to have to add to the taboo topic of conversation ideas. She'll have to major in history and work in a museum or something just to _learn EVERYTHING_ taboo about these guys. It's a good thing that history is actually interesting.

"_Come on, Liara…just focus on your report."_ She mumbled to herself. _"Think about it: you'll probably find out something that you can tell Veneziano. I mean, your guardian angel told you that you're the only one that can find answers."_

**[If only you bothered to tell me how…I don't have forever like these guys…]**

She gave up trying and decided that she might as well do her research and figure it out then. She Googled the Holy Roman Empire and quickly clicked on the first link: since, duh, Wikipedia is the best place to look for important general ideas. Fortunately, Holy Roman Empire was one of the thousands of things that she can look up.

"All right then…Holy Roman Empire." She leaned in. _**"[The **__**Holy Roman Empire**__** (HRE, German**_: _Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR)_, _**Latin**_: _Imperium Romanum Sacrum (IRS)_, _**Italian**_: _Sacro Romano Impero (SRI) __**was a realm that existed for about a**__** millennium in Central Europe, ruled by a Holy Roman Emperor.]**_ Hm…I guess Veneziano was a member of his house…"

During her skim, she could barely catch the fact that they were called "Holy" because the first prince crowned was somehow associated with it. After some pretty deep history that told that Holy Roman Empire kept dissolving and reforming during the times, she read that France _(most specifically Napoleon)_ was the one who separated the Holy Roman Empire for good, replacing the majority of the territory as either French lands, the Hapsburg Empire, and…

"The German Confederation."

**[So…the whole basis of Holy Roman Empire ended up being **_**GERMANY?**_**]**

That was a combo breaker.

She quickly jumped into "History of Germany" on the page and quickly zoomed in on it with burning eyes. She wanted to have a confirmation about this before she could come to a solid conclusion.

"_**The Holy Roman Empire was formally dissolved in 6 August 1806 when the last Holy Roman Empire resigned…"**_ She looked down. _**"On the territory of the former 'Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation', the German Confederation was found…"**_ She blinked and leaned back.

_OK, go back to general information. Germany during World War II called the Nazi Regime the Third Reich, meaning a time period when Germany was at the height of his power. That would mean that he would have to be in power two times before…_ She skimmed around the Wikipedia page again. _Well, if what I'm thinking is right, the German Confederation would have to be the Second Reich…would that make Holy Roman Empire…?_

She dug through five other websites. And five more. And went back to the first five. And then she leaned back and held her head.

"Can't get around it, Liara…" She sighed. "Helirich is definitely related to Ludwig somehow…maybe they're the same person?"

She couldn't conclude that, since she never saw this guy before. But she can clearly confirm that Germany would have some knowledge relating to him. And maybe Prussia, since it looked like he was definitely around when Holy Roman Empire dissolved. So who was she going to ask first?

"So there's a chance that Ludwig is Holy Roman Empire…" She found herself laughing. "Right, like something that easy is going to be true! If Germany really was Heilrich, then they would've been reunited _**eons**_ ago! Come on, Liara…just focus on your report. Don't bring up Holy Roman Empire again…cause you're just sounding like an idiot."

Unbeknownst to her, Italy was listening to her mumblings from safely behind the wall.

**/=+=/**

"Ugh…there's so much paper here. Can't America ever bring his documents with him when he's done?"

Germany shook his head as he started collecting the papers strewn around the room. Most of them were from America being a total idiot throwing his completely random ideas around and then carelessly discarding them once they prove to be completely idiotic. Hopefully, Feliciano can wait for him while he cleans up. He did say that he might ask Liara for a drive to her house…

Someone slammed on the door, startling him. He looked up and saw that someone had run into the door. After a few seconds, the door slowly creaked open and Feliciano peeked out from behind it. He sighed and shook his head, surprised that he was shocked out of something so obvious.

"Oh, it's just you." He sighed as he plopped the papers on the table. "I'm almost done here, Italy. Don't worry."

He was staring at him with wide eyes, somehow unnerving the German. After a few seconds, Feliciano slowly entered the room and hugged Ludwig as hard as he could, so close to especially squeezing the air out of his lungs.

"Ack-! Feliciano, what are you-!"

"_It's you, isn't it?"_ He sobbed, holding him closer. _"Holy Rome…you're Holy Rome, aren't you?"_

"E-eh?" Ludwig was taken aback. "W-what are you talking about, Ita-"

"_Heilrich…you have to be Heilrich…I know his face, and…and I thought that I was seeing things when I first saw you, but…"_

Feliciano couldn't say anything else, finally breaking out into tears on the German's stomach. A few minutes of awkward silence echoed on after that. Suddenly, he felt two light hands hold onto Feliciano's arms and his lips lightly grazing his forehead.

"…how did you find out…?"

"Ah-!" He was shocked. He was actually right! "…Heilrich!"

"…how did you find out?" He repeated, looking deeply ashamed.

"I-It was Liara…" Feliciano answered. "She was online and happened to stumble across your past…"

"…I see…I always assumed that she would be the first one to find out…" Ludwig let Feliciano go and turned around, holding his head. "God, Feliciano…can you forgive me?"

"…why didn't you tell me all this time?" He asked. "What was holding you back?"

Ludwig could only sigh.

**/=+=/**

"_Hey…are you still alive?"_

_Heilrich's eyes twitched open to see a strange man kneeling in front of him. Once he was awake, he felt a strange pain in his stomach and realized that there was a sword right through the stomach. The strange man with the gray hair and the red eyes reached out and pulled out the blade, making him gasp._

"_You're still alive…Heilrich, right?" He grinned. "That's good. The last thing I needed was to deal with the damn French without a back-up plan."_

"…_who are you?" Heilrich gasped._

"_Me? Come on, you must've heard of the awesome Prussia! But for your sake, you can call me Gilbert." The man picked him up. "You're coming with me, Heilrich. That blood loss is going to kill you, and the last thing that we need you to do is die when there's a chance to save your land."_

"…_Italy…"_

"_Heh?" Gilbert looked down._

"…_go back…to Italy…" Heilrich turned. "Have to…go back…"_

"_Go back? In this condition? I thought you were out to expand your territory!" He grinned. "You have to fill out your destiny! Be stronger!"_

"…_destiny?" Heilrich turned back to Gilbert._

"_You were going to expand your empire in order to be stronger, right? You can't go crawling back to Italy all messed up like this!" Gilbert smiled._

"…_I have to be…stronger…" He sighed, still in pain. "For Italy…"_

"_I'm willing to help you on that, bro. You're going to be the best country that this world has to offer!" Gilbert grinned. "Don't you worry about a thing!"_

"_But…Italy…?"_

"_You can't go to Italy in this condition…you're going to have to wait." Prussia stated. "Until you're the strongest nation in the world…then the heartbreak and grief will be for something…"_

_**[Be the strongest nation in the world…make everything worth it…]**__ Heilrich closed his eyes. __**[Please wait for me, Italy…please wait…I'll be back…]**_

**/=+=/**

"**Get stronger, Germany. Only then will everything be worth it."**

"T-that's what he told you…"

"I wanted to protect you in every way that I could. If I was weak and pathetic as I was on that battlefield…I would be letting you down." Ludwig answered, holding his head. "I had to get stronger…even if I had to go under a new name to do so."

"…Heilrich…no, Ludwig?"

"It's Ludwig…I'm not strong enough to take back my name." He sighed. "I've tried as many times as I could to regain my former power…all those wars, just for the sake of being able to see you in the eye and saying that it was all worth it…so when I found you that one day and you said that you were Italy…I couldn't believe it…"

There was only dead silence. He didn't leave the room, cause the door didn't make any sound of moving.

"I had to protect you no matter what…but I still wasn't ready to retake my name, yet I never wanted to lie to you. I was so confused, wondering if I should lie or not. In the end, I had to tell you that I was Ludwig." He rubbed his forehead. "I'm still not ready…I don't think I'll ever be ready, with the world as it is. I'll never be able to redeem myself-"

Two slender arms reached out from behind him and tightly embraced his chest, somewhat startling Ludwig. He felt something wet on his back, and heard that he was crying.

"I…I don't care Heilrich…I don't care if you ever regain your glory." He sobbed. "Don't you remember what I told you? I like you just the way you are…powerful or not."

"I…I just wanted to protect you…"

"I know that, Heilrich…but…you're doing great just the way you were doing all this time…" Feliciano stated. "You don't have to redeem yourself for anything…I…I'm just so happy that you're finally back…"

The sobbing grew louder and louder _(or maybe that was just him)_ as the grip on him grew tighter. Ludwig was still taken aback on how much he still loved him, and slowly overlapped the Italian's arms with his own, tangling his fingers with the others. He closed his eyes, smiling that he was finally in Italy's arms…for the first time in forever…

**/=+=/**

**Wow…that ended up being horrible… Oh well, it was a very different view of the theory and I wanted to write something about Wikipedia! Don't ask me why.**


End file.
